Week 2 Rewind
COVID-19 was a big factor in the Big Country this past week. Jim Ned had to cancel a game at Sweetwater. Sweetwater scrambled to find a new opponent, Brownsboro, then had to cancel that contest due to a positive test themselves. The Mustangs initially cancelled their September 11 game at San Angelo Lake View, but will be able to play after all.
The virus played a role in me getting to do play-by-play of the Anson at Coleman game Friday night as well. KOXE radio had to shuffle the deck when Dallas Huston and Carl Wayne tested positive, so Randy Turner, who usually does Coleman games, called the Brownwood/Midland Greenwood game and I had the chance to fill in for Randy. More observations from that contest to come.
STILL PERFECT
ALBANY: The Lions cruised past a good Dublin team, from a larger classification, 64-27 to set up a (non-district this time) showdown with fellow unbeaten and state ranked Hamlin on Friday.
ANSON: The Tigers rallied past Coleman 38-14 to get to 2-0. Dylyn Pyle started at wide receiver in week one, but shifted to quarterback against the Bluecats to replace the injured Isaac Brann. Pyle got off to a rough start, throwing an interception that was returned 50-yards for a touchdown by Dylan Mickler, but settled in the rest of the way. He ran for a 25-yard score, threw a pair of touchdown passes to Julian Garcia (12 and 50 yards) and capped off the night with a 78-yard punt return for a touchdown late in the third quarter. Pyle ended up 11-18 for 172 yards with 2 touchdowns and one pick passing while also rushing for 87 yards and a touchdown. Not a bad debut under center (more like in the shotgun) for the junior.
BALLINGER: The Bearcats relied on their defense once again in a 13-0 win over Breckenridge. The offense did not score a lot with starter Tyler Vaughn out of the lineup with a shoulder injury, but it was enough to get the job done, especially with a defense that only gave up 142 yards of total offense.
BANGS: The Dragons are not only unbeaten, but still unscored upon early in 2020 after winning at Florence 55-0. The Buffaloes could only muster 108 yards (they lost 11 on the ground) and gave up 566 to the Dragons.
CROSS PLAINS: Cross Plains doubled up Goldthwaite 28-14 to get to 2-0 on the season. The Buffs will hit the road to Haskell Friday to face an old district foe and keep their record perfect.
HAMLIN: The Pipers picked up one of the most impressive wins in the Big Country, if not the state, when they took down state ranked Hawley 35-6 on the Bearcats home field. Hamlin led 28-0 in the third quarter before Hawley got on the board.
HERMLEIGH: The Cardinals cruised past Baird on the road 58-20 and are a win away from matching their 2019 win total already this season. Hermleigh checks in at #40 in the rankings.
HIGHLAND: Highland rolled Roby 56-6 in their home opener to get their second victory in as many games. The Hornets have outscored their opponents 110-12 and are up to #37 in the latest sixmanfootball.com Division I rankings.
LORAINE: The Bulldogs are also unbeaten after holding off Grady 38-28. They are now at #23 in the sixmanfootball.com Division II rankings.
MERKEL: The Badgers check in as one of the more surprising unbeaten teams after their 24-22 victory over Stanton Friday night. Merkel is 2-0 under new head coach Britt Hart and will face their biggest test of the season thus far Friday night at Hawley.
ROTAN: The Yellowhammers took Woodson to the wood shed 54-6 to pick up their second “45” of the season. They are 21 point favorites (according to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football) to get another win this week at Moran. However, they’re still only #51 in the sixmanfootball.com rankings.
SANTA ANNA: The Mountaineers are another still perfect team that is raising eyebrows. They took care of Moran at home 74-35 Friday and see themselves at #66 in the DII rankings on sixmanfootball.com.
TIGER TALE
I can write more about this game because I saw it with my own eyes, but Anson impressed me in their win at Coleman. The Tigers have some very good weapons on offense in Pyle, Garcia, Mason Hagler, Jacob Garza and Riley Pippin, among others. Those guys are also pretty good in their roles on defense. If Anson keeps things rolling they could be in the discussion to challenge Hawley for a district title out of 3-2A Division I. Anson will host Dublin for their home opener Friday night.
“BLUE” BLUECATS
Coleman may not be happy about their loss to the Tigers, but they do have some good looking players on their roster. Sophomore RB/LB Ryland Gentry stood out in a big way on both offense and defense, knifing through the Anson offensive line to rack up numerous tackles for loss and also leading the way in the Coleman rushing attack with 68 yards on 13 bruising carries. Braxton Smith, also a sophomore, made some good catches at receiver, including one where he caught the ball after it bounced off his helmet while tip-toeing to get his feet in bounds along the sidelines. The future may be bright, but the present isn’t so bad either. Coleman runs an old school I-formation offense, and if they can get QB Corbin Rosales on track passing (he went 4-9 for 62 yards against Anson) their running game with Gentry and others should open up. The Bluecats have their homecoming contest Friday night against 1-1 Brady.
ALSO CAUGHT MY EYE
Brownwood, without head coach Sammy Burnet (quarantine) bounced back with a big win over a highly thought of Midland Greenwood team. Trey Cross, a first-team all state selection for Greenwood in class 4A by the TSWA a year ago after rushing for 1,975 and 23 touchdowns in the regular season, was held to 105 yards on 28 carries by the Lion defense. They only gave up 167 total yards. Royshad Henderson racked up 118 yards of his own (his second straight 100 yard game to start the season) on the ground and sophomore QB Chance Jones was an efficient 11-17 for 82 yards.
Early picked up win number one for head coach Daniel Price with a 41-25 victory over Tolar. Price had his son Jaxyn under center, and the sophomore threw for 100 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 52 yards and another score.
Eastland got Texas Tech commit Behren Morton back at quarterback but blew a 28-7 halftime lead, falling to Holliday 29-28 when the Eagles converted a two-point conversion with 21 seconds left in the game. Morton threw for 314 yards and ran for 60 more in the loss. The preseason state ranked Mavericks fall to 0-2, but are far from done this season.
Then #7 May battled hard in a battle of state ranked teams, but came up short at home 48-44 to #4 Sterling City Friday night. The Tigers led 22-16 at the half but saw the Eagles outscore them in the second half. These two teams have the potential to meet again later this season in the playoffs. It would have to be in the state championship game, however, as the Tigers represent region IV while the Eagles are in region II.
LOOKING AHEAD
There are some more pretty good match-ups on the schedule for week three. Here are a few that jump out on paper.
Hamlin at Albany. Duh. Two state ranked teams will meet in Albany as the Pipers brutal non-district schedule continues. Hamlin snapped a 12-game losing streak to the Lions in the regular season finale 66-20 to claim the district title, so expect a little revenge to be on the Lions minds as they welcome the Pipers to town on Friday.
Dublin at Anson. The Tigers look to stay perfect against a Dublin team that is coming off a rough outing at Albany.
China Spring at Brownwood. Perennial playoff teams, who have shared the same district recently, will meet at Gordon Wood Stadium in a non-district match-up Friday.
Eastland at Jim Ned. Not sure if this one is happening yet or not due to the Indians having to sit out last week with a positive COVID test, but if it happens it’s a very good match-up between former district rivals.
Merkel at Hawley. The Bearcats will ready to put the Hamlin loss behind them while the Badgers hope to keep the good times rolling and move to 3-0.
Childress at Stamford. The unbeaten Bobcats come south to face a Stamford squad that shut out Roscoe on the road last week.
May at Knox City. The Tigers play another tough non-district game, visiting a Greyhound team that fell by a point, 68-67, to 2019 1A Division II runner-up Motley County last week.
Santa Anna at Rising Star. The Mountaineers face their toughest foe to date, a Wildcat group that has played very well so far this season under new head coach Clint Miller. They got him his first win as head Wildcat Thursday night over Forestburg.
GETTING STARTED
Good luck to the big schools, who finally get to begin practice this week. Abilene High, Cooper and Wylie will open the season on September 25.
